[PLUG-TALK] The Latest on the Hemorrhoid Phones

[John Jason Jordan]

On Tue, 22 Mar 2011 11:56:05 -0700 (PDT)
Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> dijo:

>On Tue, 22 Mar 2011, Aaron Burt wrote:
>
>> "Carriers have long been concerned about turning into 'dumb pipes'
>> delivering only voice and data traffic and have wanted to retain as
>> much ownership of the customer experience as possible.

> When the only telephone option we had was AT&T landlines, wasn't it
> just a 'dumb pipe' carrying only voice? Seems to me that 'customer
> experience' is the latest business management fad and means whatever
> one wants it to mean.

Back then AT&T and its fellow travelers were franchises granted and
regulated by the government. The regulators wisely realized that a dumb
pipe was pretty much all that people needed, not counting the later
arrival of call waiting, etc. Now that we have an essentially
unregulated cell phone industry the carriers are adding extra
bull-services to increase profits. Unfortunately, the cow has little
choice in the matter.